As I have thought about the many different posts that I could write, I just feel overwhelmed with gratitude. I feel like the past month has been a constant celebration. Ever since Valentine's Day, when we announced the big news of our baby coming, we have been blessed so much. I am loving my new job at the Registrar's Office. I help with articulating transcripts for transfer students that are coming from our 'top feeder' schools. It is very satisfying to help those that I can relate to because I transferred to Utah State and haven't regretted the decision once. I also work with some great people that are so energetic and entertaining that there is never a dull moment.
I was telling Dallon the other day that I finally feel like myself again, and I haven't felt like this for a very long time. We are both very happy with that sense of inner peace. My job keeps me busy, but not to a point that I am stressed out to the max, all of the time. I do have to deal with difficult people from time to time, but it is only for a few moments, and then it passes. So I really can't complain about where our lives have taken us.
At the end of February, we traveled south for some State Basketball, where we got to see some of our friends from high school. Dallon will never really understand my passion for basketball, and that's fine. He is very supportive of my passion, bless his heart. While we were visiting we celebrated Trex, Daez, and my birthdays. Daez made an awesome cake with three tiers that showcased each of us individually. She is so talented! I am amazed at every cake/cup cake she creates.
The first of week of March brought my birthday, where we traveled down to Fetal Fotos to find out the gender of our growing baby. Much to our dismay, the baby was a stubborn little thing and we were unable to reveal the gender. However, it was surreal to see our baby up on the screen, its little hands, spine, face, legs, umbilical cord (which kept getting in the way), and feet. Tears came to my eyes as I sat there holding Dallon's hand, looking at our baby, and realizing just how much I had been looking forward to this moment my whole life. I guess this moment made it more of a reality, the reality that we are going to be parents. Even though we didn't find out Pheobe or Pheobo, we celebrated my birthday at Chili's with some of our favorite people. Sara, Colin, Brick, Daez, Michael, Sharon, Jim, and Teena, all made a trip to see us. I truly am grateful for each and every one of them and the love/support they show Dallon and I.
The next week in March brought our three year anniversary and a much needed Spring Break. Daezia also was on Spring Break, so she came to party it up with us for a few days. She is seriously so crazy, but we love her so much! Between her and Dallon, there is NEVER a dull moment.
For our Anniversary and Spring Break celebrations, we decided to go to Las Vegas with our friends Jared and Kierra (we were married a year and a day before them, and that's just one of the MANY similarities our lives possess). Kierra and I also work together at the Registrar's Office. We worked until noon on Wednesday and then loaded up in their Pilot and headed south. Because we weren't able to find out the gender on our last visit, we were issued a voucher to come back and try again. After four tries of doing the ultra sound, a couple of head stands, a bottle of cold water, and some music, our baby finally revealed the gender.....we are having a girl!! We couldn't be more excited! We got some adorable pictures, as well as a dvd of the two ultra sounds.
As we called and texted our families and close friends, we continued on our way to Las Vegas. Nish and my parents were kind enough to drive over to Beaver to meet us at Dairy Queen. It felt so good to hug all of them and to let them know the big news. The tribe is all ecstatic because we haven't had a baby girl since Tay, almost a decade ago! Nish brough Stox and Trex for the visit and Trex informed us that he won the 'drawing'. The last time Nish brought kids up to see us, they had sort of a reaping....however many chores the kids completed, they could put in a ticket, after two days Nish and Jeep picked three winners. I literally laughed out loud when Nish explained how they chose who got to come. It was awesome.
Anyways, after chatting for a while with everyone, we decided to hit the road again. We finally pulled into Las Vegas and checked into our hotel. We spent three jam packed days in Vegas, soaking up the warm and sunny weather. Dallon and Jared both are studying Biological Engineers and have pretty much the exact same schedule. Life as an engineer can get pretty hectic and stressful, but they both handle it really well. There is no way that I could do what they do, and I'm just glad that I don't have to. It was wonderful vacation where we were all able to just relax and not worry about homework, tests, labs, and studying, etc.
Some of the highlights of our trip include:
-Shopping at the outlet mall-we found two very adorable outfits for Baby Girl Durfey coming in September.
-Walking down Freemont Street in Vegas-however somethings just can't be unseen unfortunately
-Finding an individualize license plate with my name spelled correctly-it doesn't happen very often fyi
-Getting some very important info off of taxis
-Experiencing the new High Roller ride-and met some very chatty locals
-Walking up and down The Strip-we even found a Carlo's Bakery!
-Dallon finding his inner hatred/love for slot machines
-Watching some people get really into March Madness-even more than me!
-Experiencing the M&M and Coke Factory again-we also got baby girl a cute M&M onsie!
-Enjoying a Jeff Civillico show-we actually saw him when he was first starting out in Vegas on our honeymoon and introduced Jared and Kierra to his high-larious show.
-Enjoying a girls date by getting a pedicure
-Staying at the Virgin River on our way back-it brought back a lot of memories from my childhood
We didn't want to go back to reality, but knew we had to some eventually. We made it back safely to Logan and were happy to finally be back in our own home. Here's to 7 more weeks of school until summer!
